Automatically-actuated oil-burner



H. L. SWEENEY. AUTOMATICALLY ACTUATED 0||. BURNER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 1, 1920.

Patented Nov. 1, 1921.

I IV

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

AUTOMATICALLY-ACTUATED OIL-BURNER.

Patented Nov. 1, 1921.

Application filed May 1, 1920. Serial No. 378,191.

T 0 all 10 7mm it may concern:

Be it known that I, HOWARD L. SWEENEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oakland, in the county of Alameda and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatically-Actuated Oil-Burners, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to oil burners for use in boiler furnaces, dry kilns, or' in like situations, and particularly to the oil burners illustrated in my Patent, #1,333,785 granted March 16, 1920, on automatically actuated oil burners. a

My said patent shows a pivoted burner wherein a decrease in the pressure of the air or steam supplied to the burner for combustion with the fuel will cause the burner to shift from a projected and operative position to a retracted or inoperative position, and in so shifting cut off the supply of fuel to the burner,-while when the air or steam is again directed into the burner, the burner will shift to its operative position and per mit the passage of fuel and of steam'or air to the burner.

While this construction is particularly desirable for open hearth furnaces where the burners are mounted at opposite ends of the furnace and have to be ordinarily operated by'a helper pulling out the burner or burners at one end of the furnace and shoving in the burner or-burners at the opposite end of the furnace into operative position, this automatic projection of the burners into their operative position is not sometimes desirable, as for instance, where the burners are used in connection with some forms of heating furnaces 'or some forms of dry kilns. i

The object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide means in which, after the burner is retracted, due to the cutting off of air and steam to the burner, the projection of the burner and the turning on of the fuel supply will be absolutely prevented until the burner is manually returned to its original position, so that if air or steam be again turned on, the burner will not shift to its operative position, and thus allow gas to be generated in the hot furnace which may eventually explode.

And a further object is to provide a burner shifting mechanism including a cylinder, a piston operating therein, and an actuating .my prior application.

member operatively connected to the burner and to the piston, and provide a valve in the plpe leading to the cylinder which, when the burner is retracted and the piston falls, will automatically prevent the return of motive fluid, that is air or steam, to the cylinder until the burner has been shifted by hand to its projected position.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

. My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure l is a vertical sectional view of a burner constructed in accordance with my lnventlon, and which burner has been fully described in my prior application;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view through the base portion of the burner;

Referring to these drawings, M designates an elongated, tubular member supported at its opposite end portion in suitable bearings 1 whereby it may be oscillated. The middle of the member M has its bore enlarged, as at 2, and this enlargement is intersected by the wall. of partition 3 which divides the enlarged portion of member M into two chambers or compartments A and B. The bore of member M outwardly of the opposite ends of the enlarged portion 2 is intersected by partitions 4 having restricted openings 5. Engaging the outer face of each partition 4 is the head 6 of a supply pipe 7 which extends axially to the member M, each head having a restricted opening 8 adapted to register with an opening 5 in the partition a when the burner is in itsprojected position. The pipe 7 with the head 6 are stationary and supported by Ts, passage through which is controlled by a needle valve 31. One of the Ts communicates by a pipe D toasource of liquid or gaseous fuel, and the second is connected by a pipe C to a source of atomizing fluid under pressure, as for instance, air or steam.

The side wall of the member M has an openingl-O defined by an outstanding, annular flange 11, and secured to the flange 11 by a coupling 12 is the burner pipe 14 having an elbow 15 at its extremity with which a burner nozzle 20 is engaged by means which have been fully described in The wall 3 has an opening 21, and extending from this open ing is a pipe 23 having extensions passing through the elbow 15 and having a nozzle 29.- It will e rio t fuel, th r gaseous or liquid, will pass into the chamber A to be ejected through pipe 23, while cally retracting this burner if the supply of steam or air is cut ofi', I dispose below the support S a cylinder 32 having a piston 33. The outer end of the piston rod 34 is engaged with a substantially horizontal lever 35 pivoted to a link 36 and carrying a counterweight 37 Mounted on pipe 14 and extending away from the direction of nozzle 20 is an arm 38, and a link 39 pivotally connects this'arm to the lever 35 outward of the connections of the piston rod 34.

Leading from the air or steam supply pipe C and communicating with the lower end of the cylinder 32 is a pipe 40 whereby fluid pressure may be exerted upon the piston 33 to cause the lever 35 to swing the burner into working position. When the pressurewithin'the'pipe C is cut off or reduced beyond a predetermined point, the weight 37 will force the lever 35 to swing the burner into an inoperative position through an arc of approximately WVh'en'the burner is in its inoperative position and swung outward from the furnace, the openings 5 and 6 are then closed, thus cutting off the flow of fuel to the burner and the flow of steam thereto, but when the burners are swung into open position, the openings register with each other whereby fuel is'permitted to enter the chamber A and air or steam enters the chamber B, and the mixture being discharged through the nozzle 20.

So far, I have described what'is more fully described, illustrated and claimed in my said patent. The object of the present invention, as before stated, is to provide means for preventing the return of the burner to its projected position after the burner has been retracted until the burner is manually projected. To this end, and where it is desired, I have provided a valve 41 in the branch pipe 40 which is connected by a link 42 to lever 35. This valve is a quick opening valve, and the arm of the valve, as illustrated in Fig. 1,-is formed with a slot. The link 42 is preferably reduced at its lower end and passes through this slot and carries a stop nut 43., Asprin'g 44 is disposed between the upper face of the valve arm and the washer 45, which is released by the spring, and

against a pin 46 which extends'th'rough the rod above this washer.

The spring 44 permits the link 42 to descend through the slot in the handle of the valve and prevents the valve stem from being broken off. When the air or steam is shut off in the pipe C, the weight 37 pulls the horizontal lever 35 down, pushing down on the link 42, which causes the pin 46 to bear down on the washer 45, which in turn presses down on the spring 44, and this pushes downward onthe valve handle, causing the valve 41 to close by the time the piston 33 reaches the bottom of the cylinder, thus pre venting any supply of fluid under pressure to the lower portion of the cylinder 32 until the valve 41 is again opened. This securely locks the mechanism against automatic return to its operative position, and the mechanism will stay in'this inoperative position until the attendant manually pushes the burner into operative position, which causes the valve 41 to open and the burner is again inaction and will, therefore, operate automatically so long as the pressure of air or steam is practically constant. Thus, all

danger of accidental explosion is avoided;

time be desired that the burner should work 7 automatically, then the pin 46 may be driven out, the handle of the valve 41 may be pushed up, and the burner will operate both ways automatically, the rod or link 42 simply sliding up or down the slot in the valve. This safety locking valve islnot ordinarily used when my'burner is used in'connection with open hearth furnaces, but it may be so used if desired, nor is it designed to be used where the burners are constantly moving in and out of the furnace, It is particularly necessary, however, where the burner is used for an ordinary boiler furnace oridry kiln, as in those cases if at any time the supply of air: orsteam through pipe C be cut off, the burner will immediately. drop back and lock. Many deaths have occurred and a great deal of damage has been done where the fireman or engineer has neglected to shut the oil off from the boiler, leaving the burner to discharge the oil into the furnace while he repairs the air pump. The oil discharging into the furnace accumulates and evolves gas and then a car'elesslyignitecl rag or match thrown into the furnace will cause an explosion, doing great damage. This is an every day occurrence in furnacesusi'ng gas, and'by my mechanism this chance of explosion is obviated.

I claim 1. The combination with a furnace, of a 'g'as'burner having a fuel supply and a fluid pressure supply, the burner being mounted for movement into or out of operative relation, means automatically cutting off the supply of fuel to the burner upon a movement of the burner to its inoperative position, and means acting automatically to prevent a reestablishment of communication between the source of fluid pressure supply and the burner after the burner has been shifted to its inoperative position until the burner is again manually shifted to its operative position.

2. A burner of the character described oscillatably mounted for movement into or out of operative position and connected by separate conduits to a source of fuel supply and to a source of atomizing fluid under pressure, valves for establishing connection between the burner and said fuel and fluid sources when the burner is in its operative position and disestablishing said connection when the burner is in its inoperative position, pressure operated means connected to the source of fluid under pressure for the burner acting to urge the burner to its operative position when the pressure of fluid is at a predetermined point and automatically swinging the burner to its inoperative position when the pressure of fluid decreases beyond the predetermined point, and means actuated automatically by the movement of the burner to its inoperative position cutting off the passage of fluid under pressure to said pressure operated means.

3. A burner of the character described mounted for oscillation into or out of an operative position, separate conduits connecting the burner to a source of fuel and to a source of atomizing fluid under pressure, a lever pivoted at one end and having its other end urged in a certain direction, an operative connection from the lever to the burner, said lever when acting under the pressure of said urging means acting to shift the burner from its operative to its inoperative position, a cylinder connected to the fluid supply pipe, a piston within the cylinder engaged in said lever, the pressure within the cylinder normally holding the lever and burner in an operative'position, and means for cutting off communication between the source of fluid supply and said cylinder when the lever has moved under the influence of said urging means consequent upon the reduction of pressure within the cylinder and the burner has been shifted to its inoperative position.

4:. A burner of the character described mounted for oscillation into or out of an operative position and connected to a source of fuel and to a source of atomizing fluid under pressure, a cylinder connected to the source of fluid under pressure, a piston within the cylinder urged in one direction by the pressure of fluid therein, a weighted member operatively connected to the piston and lifted when the piston is moved in one direction by the fluid pressure and acting to shift the piston in the other direction when the fluid pressure is reduced, operative connections between said member and said burner to cause the shifting of the burner to its inoperative position when the pressure within the cylinder is reduced, a supply pipe connecting the cylinder to the source of fluid under pressure having therein a normally open cut-off valve having an outwardly projecting, perforated arm, a link connected to said weighted member, passing through the perforation of the arm, and having a stop engageable with the arm to shift the valve to its open position when the weighted member is raised, and a spring disposed on said link bearing against said arm opposite the stop and having its other end operatively connected to the link, whereby to permit a movement of the link through the valve arm for a predetermined distance and then a closing of the valve.

5. The combination with a burner mounted for movement into or out of operative position, of means urging the burner to an inoperative position, fluid pressure operated means retaining the burner in its operative position against the action of the urging means, and means acting upon a shifting of the burner to its inoperative position cut ting off the supply of fluid under pressure to said fluid actuated means to thereby prevent the swinging of the burner to its operative position under the action of said fluid operated means after the burner has been shifted to its inoperative position.

6. The combination with a burner mounted for movement into or out of operative position, means urging the burner to an in operative position, and pressure operated means for retaining the burner in its operative position against the action of said urging means, of means automatically preventing the shifting of the burner to its operative position under the action of said pressure operated means after it has been shifted to its inoperative position by the second named means.

7. The combination with a furnace, of a burner having a fuel supply, and a fluid 115 pressure supply, the burner being mounted for movement into or out of operative relation to the furnace, means urging the burner to an inoperative position, means operated by the fluid under pressure acting to retain the burner in its operative position against the action of said urging means. means automatically cutting off the supply of fuel to the burner upon a movement of the burner to its inoperative position, and 125 means acting automatically when the burner is shifted to its inoperative position to prevent an actuaton of the pressure operated means and the return of the burner to its operative position.

8. The combination With a furnace, of a burner having a fuel supply, the burner being mounted for movement into or out of operative relation to the furnace, means urging the burner to an inoperative position, fluid pressure operated means acting to retain the burner in its operative position against the action of said urging means, means automatically cutting off the supply of fuel to the burner upon a movement of the burner to its inoperative position, and

a valve shiftable to a closed position by a shifting of the burner to its inoperative position, said valve cutting off communication between the source of fluid pressure and the fluid operated means, said valve being opened by a manual shifting of the burner to its operative position to thereby reestablish communication between the source of pres-' sure and the pressure operated means.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature. 7

TIOWARD L. SWEENEY. 

